Container



R. G. THOKE Nov. 21, 1933.

CONTAINER Filed Aug. 8, 1931 e 4 @W a W 7 W My fly WW 6 3 m J, W m m m wmy Patented Nov. 21, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER RudolphG. Thoke, La Grange, Ill.

Application August 8, 1931. Serial No. 555,945

1 Claim. (01. 62-915) This invention relates to a refrigerating packagein which some form of solid material, preferably frozen carbon dioxide,serves as a refrigerant, and particularly it relates to a devicesupplying a compartment for a refrigerant within a package, separatingthe refrigerant and the material to be refrigerated, wherebyoverfreezing, which commonly results from the use of solidified carbondioxide and similar refrigerants, is avoided.

Already a number of containers for solidified carbon dioxide have beenproposed, and experience therewith has developed a wide knowledge of thebehavior of this product as a refrigerant. That solid carbon dioxidemaintains a tempera ture of approximately 110 degrees or more belowzero, that it passes directly from a solid state into a gaseousstateupon heating and that uhe temperature of the gas immediately afterrelease from the solid form is of a very low degree, are commonly knownfacts. The utility of a refrigerant which upon a rise in its temperaturedoes not assume a liquid state and does not, therefore, soften cardboardcontainers, is well known. Efiicient packaging of solidified carbondioxide in a container is, however, a problem which has not received agreat deal of attention.

Dry ice packages now are generally used only where the article to berefrigerated may be overfrozen with safety. The prior art has generallyshown that solidified carbon dioxide directly or almost contacting withthe material to .be refrigerated freezes it to great solidity. Thus,upon a metal container of ice cream is placed a cake of solidifiedcarbon dioxide. The side of the cake rests against the container (ametal or paper can), and is in substantial contact with a portion of thematerial to be refrigerated. The contacting face of the cake ofsolidified carbon dioxide will draw heat directly from therefrigerattainer and the frozen product are reduced to a temperature 100degrees lower than is necessary for proper refrigeration; and, in thesecond place, such excessive reduction in temperature being nothing butwasted effort, there is a loss of energy which is costly to the user ofthe solid carbon dioxide who must supply enough of such refrigerant tomeet the waste of such a system of refrigeration.

The primary object of the present invention 65 is, therefore, to providemeans to avoid refrigeration by direct contact with the carbon dioxidecake. Expressed differently, the object of the present invention is tosuspend a carbon dioxide cake within a refrigerating package so that it70 will be surrounded by its own gaseous discharge and be away fromclose contact with the refrigerated items. A further object of theinvention is to reduce the evaporation of the solidified refrigerant andto prevent the temperature of the 75 article to be refrigerated fromfalling to an undesirable lowness.

Another object of this invention is to provide a simple cardboardcontainer, formed entirely from blanks of material, novelly folded toobtain the 80 desired structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide the interior of acardboard package with a section to admit an independently-formedcardboard compartment or container, to be used 85 therein to hold thecaked solidified carbon dioxide.

These and such other objects as will hereinafter appear are embodied inthe invention described below and illustrated in the accompany- 90 ingdrawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carton embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a blank of which the carton shown in Figure 1is formed; 95

ed object while the remaining sides or faces of the cake refrigerate byconvection only. There is a great difference between the heat and coldconductivity of a gas and of a solid. This difference is due to thedifference in density of the two.

The temperature of the wall of the container in contact with thesolidified carbon dioxide will very quickly fall to approximately thatof the solid carbon dioxide. Anything in contact with the refrigeratedwalls will be reduced to a correspondingly low temperature.

The reduction in temperature in this manner in respect to therefrigerated item is undesirable in two respects: In the first place,the metal con- Figure 3 is a plan view of a blank, shaped and scored, toform the internal compartment or container used in the device;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a blank scored to form an inside wallsheathing;

Figure 5 is a plan view of an insulating blank, one or more of which maybe used at the top and bottom of the carton.

Like reference characters are used to designate the similar parts in thedrawing and in the description of the invention which follows:

The carton illustrated has contiguous sides 10 each of the same size andeach side has flaps 11 at each end. As may be understood from Figure 2,said carton consists of a single cardboard blank the base of thecompartment.

having slots 12 to divide the flaps 11 one from another and scores 13 atthe end of said slots to divide the flaps 11 from the body 10. Saidblank when articulated forms, when the end edges of the body sections 10are brought together and secured by a binding strip, a carton, eithercubical or a parallelepiped.

The bottom of said carton is sealed by adhesive tape in strips a part ofwhich is secured on the body sections 10 and the remainder on the twoouter flaps 11. The other two flaps 11 at that end are within thecontainer and rest upon the outer flap. Two or three layers of thesquares of insulating material 130. may be placed at the bottom.Ordinarily, these consist of the same heavy cardboard that forms theside walls. One of these is illustrated in Figure 5. i

The blank shown in Figure 4, consists of three duplicate members 15,having at each side thereof scores 16 and end members 1'? half the widthof the sections 15. By bending the blank upon the scores 16 arectangularly shaped sleeve results. Said rectangularly shaped blankwhen so articulated may be telescoped inside the carton shown in Figures1 and 2 to leave therein a section at the top to receive a compartmentfor the solidified carbon dioxide and also form an additional insulatingwall within the main carton. The height of this sleeve may be regulatedto accommodate the use of insulating material 13a in the bottom of thepackage as well as to create a recess 18 to receive the container forthe solidified carbon dioxide. Into this recess is telescoped or seatedan independently formed compartment 20, now to be described, the blankfor which is shown in Figure 3.

This compartment 20 is formed from a single blank which has a perforatesection 21 forming Said base 21 is separated from wings 22 at each edgethereof by scores 23. Said wings are folded upwardly to form the sidewalls of the compartment. The base 21 may then be fitted into recess 18of the carton and extending from one of the wings 22 is an extensioncomprising a section 24 of the same size as section 21, and from oneedge thereof is a tongue or flap extension 25. When solidified carbondioxide is placed upon base 21 the top 24 is bent across the base 21 andflap 25 is pushed into position intermediate the wing 22 with which itcomes into contact. It may be disposed between wing 22 and wall 10 ifdesired. The solidified carbon dioxide compartment is easily removedfrom the carton to permit of the insertion of the article to berefrigerated, if preferred. Usually the material to be refrigerated isdisposed in the carton before the solidified carbon dioxide compartmentis articulated.

In the bottom 21 of the solidified carbon dioxide compartment 20 areapertures 26 which permit of the escape of carbon dioxide gas from acarbon dioxide cake disposed in the solidified carbon dioxidecompartment to the storage compartment below. Refrigeration is byconvection only.

The merits of this package are readily apparent. First and foremost, isthe novel means of supporting very cold solid refrigerant away from therefrigerated items.

The utility of the device for refrigerating purposes is two-fold. Thearticles to be refrigerated are placed below the solidified carbondioxide so that advantage is taken of the natural downward flow of acold gas. Additionally, inasmuch as the package ordinarily is notcompletely filled in respect to the storage compartment, there is nocontact between the carbon dioxide cake and the articles to berefrigerated. The holes 26 in the bottom of compartment 20 are quitelarge to allow the rapid escape of gas and to reduce the amount ofsolidified carbon dioxide in direct contact with solid material. Thisretards evaporation of the cake because the cake evaporates more slowlywhen free from contact and surrounded by recently released gas than itdoes when in contact with any solid substance.

In actual use the carton has been tremendously useful by making itpossible to use dry ice for articles which should not be overfrozen,overfreezing of ice cream and the like being impossible in theillustrated device, and by maintaining the material within the device ata temperature sufficiently high as to render it edible without waitingfor it to thaw out. The previous custom of placing a cake of dry ice ona can of ice cream necessarily resulted in the ice cream being so solidor hard that it was incapable of use until thawed out. These formerpackages reduced the ice cream to the rigidity of a metal and the icecream was so cold as to be dangerous to eat as well as unpalatable.

I claim:

A carton comprising three blanks, all of insulating sheet material, oneof said blanks forming the outer shell thereof and being in an elongatedstrip with flaps at its edges, such strip forming one lamination of thefour sides of the carton with the flaps turned in to provide twolaminations of material at the top and bottom thereof, a second strip ofless width than the side forming strip and being disposed about thesides of said carton to provide a second lamination over the major partof the sides thereof and concurrently to provide a continuous shoulderabout the interior of said carton, and a third blank having a foraminoustransverse section, a second transverse section of the same area, and aplurality of narrow sections, said third blank providing a box for dryice or the like disposable on the shoulder in said carton with theforaminous section traversing the carton and opening to the interiorthereof, the small sections of the third blank providing a secondlamination for the upper section of said side forming blank in saidcarton and the other transverse section of said third blank providing athird lamination for the top of said carton.

RUDOLPH G. THOKE.

